Insect-Musicians  and  Cricket 
Champions  of  China 


BY 

BERTHOLD  LAUFER 
Curator  op  Anthropology 


12  Plates  in  Photogravure 


Anthropology 
Leaflet  22 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 

CHICAGO 

1927 


The  Anthropological  Leaflets  of  Field  Museum  are  designed  to 
give  brief,  non-technical  accounts  of  some  of  the  more  interesting 
beliefs,  habits  and  customs  of  the  races  whose  life  is  illustrated 
in  the  Museum's  exhibits. 

LIST  OF  ANTHROPOLOGICAL  LEAFLETS  ISSUED  TO  DATE 

1.  The  Chinese  Gateway $  .10 

2.  The  Philippine  Forge  Group 10 

3.  The  Japanese  Collections 25 

4.  New  Guinea  Masks 25 

5.  The  Thunder  Ceremony  of  the  Pawnee 25 

6.  The  Sacrifice  to  the  Morning  Star  by  the 

Skidi  Pawnee 10 

7.  Purification  of  the  Sacred  Bundles,  a  Ceremony 

of  the  Pawnee 10 

8.  Annual  Ceremony  of  the  Pawnee  Medicine  Men     .        .10 

9.  The  Use  of  Sago  in  New  Guinea 10 

10.  Use  of  Human  Skulls  and  Bones  in  Tibet 10 

11.  The  Japanese  New  Year's  Festival,  Games 

and  Pastimes 25 

12.  Japanese  Costume 25 

13.  Gods  and  Heroes  of  Japan 25 

14.  Japanese  Temples  and  Houses 25 

15.  Use  of  Tobacco  among  North  American  Indians     .        .25 

16.  Use  of  Tobacco  in  Mexico  and  South  America    .     .        .25 

17.  Use  of  Tobacco  in  New  Guinea 10 

18.  Tobacco  and  Its  Use  in  Asia 25 

19.  Introduction  of  Tobacco  into  Europe 25 

20.  The  Japanese  Sword  and  Its  Decoration 25 

21.  Ivory  in  China , 75 

22.  Insect-Musicians  and  Cricket  Champions  of  China    .        .50 

23.  Ostrich  Egg-shell  Cups  of  Mesopotamia  and  the 

Ostrich  in  Ancient  and  Modem  Times    ...        .50 

24.  The  Indian  Tribes  of  the  Chicago  Region  with 

Special  Reference  to  the  Illinois  and  the 
Potawatomi 25 

25.  Civilization  of  the  Mayas 75 

26.  Early  History  of  Man 25 


D.  C.  DAVIES,  Director 


FIELD  MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY 
CHICAGO.  U.  S.  A. 


LEAFLET  22. 


f^,v%3f' 


■'/ 


7 


BOYS  PLAYING  WITH  CRICKETS  (p.  10). 
Scene  from  Chinese  Paintinj?  of  the  Twelfth  Century  in  Field  Museum. 


Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

DEPARTMENT  OF  ANTHROPOLOGY 
CBMUUIO,  1907 

iMAWtMt  Nomottt 

Insect-Musicians  and  Cricket  Champions 
of  China 

Of  the  many  insects  that  are  capable  of  produc- 
ing sound  in  various  ways,  the  best  known  and  the 
most  expert  musicians  are  the  crickets,  who  during 
the  latter  part  of  summer  and  in  the  autumn  fill  the 
air  with  a  continuous  concert.  They  are  well  known 
on  account  of  their  abundance,  their  wide  distribu- 
tion, their  characteristic  chirping  song  and  the  habit 
many  of  them  have  for  seeking  shelter  in  human  habi- 
tations. 

Crickets  belong,  in  the  entomological  system,  to 
the  order  Orthoptera  (from  the  Greek  orthoa, 
"straight,"  and  pteron,  "a  wing";  referring  to  the 
longitudinal  folding  of  the  hind  wings).  In  this  order 
the  two  pairs  of  wings  differ  in  structure.  The  fore 
wings  are  parchment-like,  forming  covers  for  the  more 
delicate  hind  wings.  The  wing-covers  have  received 
the  special  name  tegmina;  they  are  furnished  with  a 
fine  network  of  veins,  and  overlap  at  the  tip  at  least. 
There  are  many  species  in  which  the  wings  are  rudi- 
mentary, even  in  the  adult  state.  The  order  Orthop- 
tera includes  six  families, — the  roaches,  mantids, 
walking-sticks,  locusts  or  short-horned  grasshoppers, 
the  long-horned  grasshoppers  including  the  katydids, 
and  the  crickets  (Gryllidae).  Of  crickets  there  are 
three  distinct  groups, — known  as  mole-crickets,  true 
crickets,  and  tree-crickets.  The  first-named  are  so 
called  because  they  burrow  in  the  ground  like  moles; 


2  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

they  are  pre-eminently  burrowers.  The  form  of  the 
body  is  suited  to  this  mode  of  life.  The  front  tibiae, 
especially,  are  fitted  for  digging;  they  are  gi'eatly 
broadened,  and  shaped  somewhat  like  hands  or  the 
feet  of  a  mole.  The  mole-crickets  feed  upon  the  tender 
roots  of  various  plants.  The  true  crickets  are  com- 
mon everywhere,  living  in  fields,  and  some  species 
even  in  our  houses.  They  usually  live  on  plants,  but 
are  not  strictly  vegetarians;  sometimes  they  are  pre- 
daceous  and  feed  mercilessly  upon  other  insects.  The 
eggs  are  laid  in  the  autumn,  usually  in  the  ground, 
and  are  hatched  in  the  following  summer.  The  greater 
number  of  the  old  insects  die  on  the  approach  of 
winter;  a  few,  however,  survive  the  cold  season.  The 
tree-crickets  principally  inhabit  trees,  but  they  occur 
also  on  shrubs,  or  even  on  high  herbs  and  tall  grass. 

Like  their  near  relatives,  crickets  have  biting 
mouth  parts,  and,  like  the  grasshoppers  and  katydids, 
rather  long  hind  legs  which  render  them  fit  for  jump- 
ing. Although  many  of  them  have  wings  when  full 
grown,  they  move  about  mainly  by  jumping  or  hopping. 
When  the  young  cricket  emerges  from  the  egg,  it 
strongly  resembles  the  adult,  but  it  lacks  wings  and 
wing-covers,  which  gradually  appear  as  the  insect 
grows  older  and  larger.  The  final  development  of 
wings  and  wing-covers  furnishes  the  means  whereby 
the  male  cricket  can  produce  his  familiar  chirping 
sound.  It  is  only  the  adult  male  that  sings ;  the  young 
and  the  females  cannot  chirp. 

On  examining  the  base  of  the  fore  wings  or  wing- 
covers  of  the  male  cricket,  it  will  be  noticed  that  the 
veins  at  the  base  are  fewer,  thicker,  and  more  irregu- 
lar than  those  on  the  hind  or  lower  wings.  On  the 
under  side  of  some  of  these  thick  veins  will  also  be 
seen  fine,  transverse  ridges  like  those  on  a  file.  The 
tving-covers  of  the  female  have  uniform,  parallel  veins, 
without  a  trace  of  ridges.    The  male  cricket  produces 


LEAFLET  22. 


PLATE  II 


CRICKETS  OF  CHINA  («.  male:  b.  femal*). 
1.  B««prinkled  Cricket.  GryUua  eotup«rius  Schaum.    2.  Mitred  Cricket,  Gn/Uua  mitratua 
Burmeiater.    Chinese  ai-eo  or  U'u-chi,  Peking  Colloquial  eh'ii-ch'u.    3.  Broad- 
faced  Cricket,  LowobUmmus  taieoun  Sausaure.    Chineae  pang-t'ou 
("Watchman'a  Rattle"). 


Natural  History  of  Crickets  8 

his  chirping  sound  by  raising  his  wing-covers  above 
his  body  and  then  rubbing  their  bases  together,  so  that 
the  file-like  veins  of  the  under  surface  of  the  one 
wing-cover  scrape  the  upper  surface  of  the  lower. 

Only  the  wings  of  the  male  cricket  have  sound- 
producing  attachments,  and  the  males  have  them  only 
when  their  wings  are  fully  developed  at  the  age  of 
maturity.    The  young  cricket  has  no  wings. 

Since  crickets  produce  a  characteristic  sound,  it  is 
natural  to  suppose  that  both  males  and  females  are 
able  to  hear  it.  On  the  lower  part  of  the  fore  legs 
of  both  sexes  is  found  a  little  drum-like  surface,  which 
serves  as  the  tympanum  of  an  ear.  The  sound-produc- 
ing organ  and  the  ear  of  the  katydids,  which  rank 
next  to  the  crickets  in  their  singing  ability,  are  some- 
what similar  in  structure  and  location. 

The  sound  made  by  crickets  is,  of  course,  not  a 
true  song,  but  a  mechanical  production,  as  are  all  of 
the  sounds  produced  by  insects.  The  object  of  the 
chirping  or  stridulating  is  somewhat  conjectural.  It 
may  be  a  love-song,  mating-call,  or  an  expression  of 
some  other  emotion.  The  fact  that  the  crickets  are 
able  to  sing  only  when  they  are  full  grown  and  capable 
of  mating  would  seem  to  suggest  that  their  chirping 
is  a  love-song. 

This  commonly  held  view,  however,  is  contested 
by  Frank  E.  Lutz  in  a  recent  article  on  "Insect 
Sounds"  published  in  Natural  History  (1926,  No.  2). 
Dr.  Lutz  starts  from  the  opinion  that  not  everything 
in  nature  has  a  practical  or  utilitarian  purpose  and 
that  many  striking  characters  and  characteristics  of 
animals  and  plants  are  of  no  use  to  their  possessors 
or  to  any  other  creature ;  they  seem  to  him  to  be  much 
like  the  figures  in  a  kaleidoscope,  definite  and  doubtless 
due  to  some  internal  mechanism,  but  not  serving  any 
special  purpose.  This  highly  trained  entomologist 
then  proceeds  to  observe,  "The  most  familiar  example 


4  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

of  insect  sounds  made  by  friction  is  the  chirping  of 
crickets.  Now,  only  the  males  do  this.  Chirping  is 
distinctly  a  secondary  sexual  character,  the  stock 
explanation  of  which  is  that  it  is  a  mating-call  de- 
veloped by  sexual  selection.  The  adult  life  of  a  male 
cricket  lasts  a  month  or  so,  and  he  chirps  most  of  the 
time,  but  he  spends  little  of  that  time  in  mating.  Why 
does  he  chirp  when  there  is  no  female  around?  Pos- 
sibly hoping  that  one  will  come ;  I  do  not  know.  When 
he  has  mated,  his  sexual  life  is  done,  but  he  keeps  on 
chirping  to  his  dying  day.  I  do  not  know  why;  pos- 
sibly to  pass  the  time.  I  do  not  know  this,  however, 
and  my  knowledge  is  based  on  the  breeding  of  literally 
thousands  of  crickets,  while  I  was  using  them  in  a 
study  of  heredity:  a  female  cricket  pays  but  little 
attention  to  a  chirping  male.  She  may  wave  her  an- 
tennae in  his  direction,  but  so  will  she  when  he  is  not 
chirping,  and  so  will  she  at  a  stick  or  a  stone."  And 
the  general  conclusion  Lutz  arrives  at  is,  "The  sig- 
nificance of  insect  sounds  is  still  an  open  subject  and, 
while  it  is  altogether  probable  that  some  of  these 
sounds  do  have  a  biological  significance,  I  firmly  be- 
lieve that  many  of  them  have  none,  being  merely  inci- 
dental to  actions  that  are  not  intended  to  make  a  noise 
and  to  structures  that  have  arisen  for  some  totally 
different  purpose  or  for  no  purpose  at  all." 

The  Chinese,  perhaps,  have  made  a  not  uninter- 
esting contribution  to  this  problem.  Of  the  many  spe- 
cies of  crickets  used  by  them,  the  females  are  kept 
only  of  one, — the  black  tree-cricket  (Homoeogryllns 
japonicus:  Plate  III,  Fig.  2),  called  by  them  kin  chung 
("Golden  Bell,"  with  reference  to  its  sounds),  as  they 
assert  that  this  is  the  only  kind  of  cricket  that  requires 
the  presence  of  the  female  to  sing.  The  females  of  all 
other  species  are  not  kept  by  the  Chinese.  As  soon 
as  the  insects  are  old  enough  that  their  sex  can  be 
determined,  the  females  are  fed  to  birds  or  sold  to 


LEAFLET  22. 


lb 


2a 


2b 


CRICKETS  OF  CHINA  (a.  male:  b.  female). 

1.  Yellowiah  Tree  Cricket.  Otennthtu  rufytetna  Servillc.    ChineM  kwo-lou.  Peking  Colloquial 

kwo-ktvo.    2.  Black  Tree  Cricket.  HomoeoaryUu*  japonictu  Haan.     Chineae  kin  ckung 

("Golden  Bell").     3.  Infuacatwl  Shield-backed  Katydid.  GamptocUu  gratiomt 

itsfiueata  Uvarov.    Pekinc-Chinaae  in^hu4u. 


Musical  Abiuty  of  Crickets  6 

bird-fanciers.  Accordingly,  the  males  of  all  species 
kept  in  captivity  by  the  Chinese,  with  a  single  excep- 
tion, sing  without  the  presence  of  the  female.  But 
whether  captive  insects  are  instructive  examples  for 
the  study  of  the  origin  and  motives  of  their  chirps 
is  another  question.  Our  canaries  and  other  birds  in 
confinement  likewise  sing  without  females.  What- 
ever the  biological  origin  of  insect  sounds  may  be 
(and  it  is  not  necessary  to  assume  that  the  sounds  of 
all  species  must  have  sprung  from  the  same  causes), 
it  seems  reasonable  to  infer  that  the  endless  repetition 
of  such  sounds  has  the  tendency  to  develop  into  a 
purely  mechanical  practice  in  which  the  insect  in- 
dulges as  a  pastime  for  its  own  diversion.  It  is  con- 
ceivable that  insect  music  has  little  or  nothing  to  do 
with  the  sex  impulse,  but  that  it  is  rather  prompted 
by  the  instinct  to  play  which  is  immanent  in  all  ani- 
mals. 

The  relation  of  the  Chinese  to  crickets  and  other 
insects  presents  one  of  their  most  striking  charac- 
teristics and  one  of  the  most  curious  chapters  of  cul- 
ture-historical development.  In  the  primitive  stages 
of  life  man  took  a  keen  interest  in  the  animal  world, 
and  first  of  all,  he  closely  observed  and  studied  large 
mammals,  and  next  to  these,  birds  and  fishes.  A 
curious  exception  to  this  almost  universal  rule  is  pre- 
sented by  the  ancient  Chinese.  In  accordance  with 
their  training  and  the  peculiar  direction  in  which  their 
imaginative  and  observational  powers  were  led,  ttiey 
were  more  interested  in  the  class  of  insects  than  in 
all  other  groups  of  animals  combined ;  while  mammals, 
least  of  all,  attracted  their  attention.  Their  love  of 
insects  led  them  to  observations  and  discoveries  which 
still  elicit  our  admiration.  The  curious  life-history 
of  the  cicada  was  known  to  them  in  early  times,  and 
only  a  nation  which  had  an  innate  sympathy  with  the 
smallest  creatures  of  nature  was  able  to  penetrate 


6  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

into  the  mysterious  habits  of  the  silkworm  and  pre- 
sent the  world  with  the  discovery  of  silk.  The  cicada 
as  an  emblem  of  resurrection,  the  praying-mantis  as 
a  symbol  of  bravery,  and  many  other  insects  play  a 
prominent  role  in  early  religious  and  poetical  concep- 
tions as  well  as  in  art,  as  shown  by  their  effigies  in 
jade. 

In  regard  to  mammals,  birds,  and  fishes,  Chinese 
terminology  does  not  rise  above  the  ordinary,  but 
their  nomenclature  of  insects  is  richer  and  more  color- 
ful than  that  of  most  languages.  Not  only  do  they 
have  a  distinct  word  or  even  several  terms  for  every 
species  found  in  their  country,  but  also  numerous 
poetic  and  local  names  for  the  many  varieties  of  each 
species  for  which  words  are  lacking  in  English  and 
other  tongues. 

Corresponding  to  their  fondness  for  crickets,  the 
Chinese  have  developed  a  special  literature  on  the  sub- 
ject. The  first  of  these  works  is  the  Tsu  chi  king 
("Book  of  Crickets")  written  by  Kia  Se-tao,  a  min- 
ister of  state,  who  lived  in  the  first  part  of  the  thir- 
teenth century,  under  the  Sung  djoiasty.  His  book, 
continued  and  provided  with  additional  matter  by 
Chou  Li-tsing  of  the  Ming  period,  is  still  in  existence, 
and  has  remained  the  most  important  and  authorita- 
tive treatise  on  the  subject,  which  has  been  freely 
drawn  upon  by  all  subsequent  writers.  The  author,  a 
passionate  cricket  fancier  himself,  gives  minute  de- 
scriptions and  subtle  classifications  of  all  species  and 
varieties  of  crickets  known  to  him  and  dwells  at  length 
on  their  treatment  and  care.  Under  the  title  Tsu  chi 
chi  ("Records  of  Crickets")  a  similar  booklet  was  pro- 
duced by  Liu  Tung  under  the  Ming  dynasty.  During 
the  Manchu  period,  Fang  Hii  wrote  a  Tsu  chi  p'u 
("Treatise  on  Crickets"),  and  Ch'en  Hao-tse,  in  his 
Hua  king  ("Mirror  of  Flowers")  written  in  1688,  of- 
fers several  interesting  sections  on  crickets. 


LEAFLET  22. 


PUTE  IV. 


CRICKET  QOUROS. 

The  Winter  Habiutions  of  the  Inaects. 

1-2.  Coven  of  ivory  carved  in  open  worlc.    3.  Cover  of  carved  coconut-ahell.    4.  Cover  of 

•andalwood  decorated  with  ei^ht  auspicious  Buddhiatic  etnblema. 


Chinese  Lore  of  Crickets  7 

In  their  relations  to  crickets  the  Chinese  have 
passed  through  three  distinct  periods :  during  the  first 
period  running  from  the  times  of  early  antiquity  down 
to  the  T'ang  dynasty,  they  merely  appreciated  the 
cricket's  powerful  tunes;  under  the  T'ang  (A.D.  618- 
906)  they  began  to  keep  crickets  as  interned  prisoners 
in  cages  to  be  able  to  enjoy  their  concert  at  any  time; 
finally,  under  the  Sung  (a.d.  960-1278)  they  developed 
the  sport  of  cricket-fights  and  a  regular  cult  of  the 
cricket. 

The  praise  of  the  cricket  is  sung  in  the  odes  of  the 
Shi  king,  the  earliest  collection  of  Chinese  popular 
songs.  People  then  enjoyed  listening  to  its  chirping 
sounds,  while  it  moved  about  in  their  houses  or  under 
their  beds.  It  was  regarded  as  a  creature  of  good  omen, 
and  wealth  was  predicted  for  the  families  which  had 
many  crickets  on  their  hearths.  When  their  voices 
were  heard  in  the  autumn,  it  was  a  signal  for  the 
weavers  to  commence  their  work. 

The  sounds  produced  by  the  mitred  cricket 
(Grylliis  mitratus:  Plate  II,  Fig.  2)  recall  to  the  Chi- 
nese the  click  of  a  weaver's  shuttle.  One  of  its  names 
therefore  is  tstc-chi,  which  means  literally  "one  who 
stimulates  spinning."  "Chicken  of  the  weaver's 
shuttle"  is  a  term  of  endearment  for  it. 

One  of  the  songs  in  the  Shi  king  consists  of  three 
stanzas  each  of  which  begins,  "The  cricket  is  in  the 
hall."  The  time  intended  is  the  ninth  month  when  the 
year  entered  on  its  last  quarter.  In  another  song  of 
the  same  collection  it  is  said,  "The  se  chung  [a  kind  of 
cricket]  moves  its  legs ;  in  the  sixth  month,  the  spinner 
[another  species  of  cricket]  sounds  its  wings;  in  the 
seventh  month  it  is  in  the  wilderness;  in  the  eighth 
month  it  is  under  the  eaves;  in  the  ninth  month  it  is 
around  the  doors ;  in  the  tenth  month  the  cricket  enters 
under  our  beds." 


8  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

At  this  point  the  Chinese  are  not  distinguished 
from  other  nations.  Our  word  "cricket"  is  imitative 
of  the  sound  of  the  insect  (literally,  "little  creaker," 
derived  from  French  criquer,  "to  creak").  In  old  Eng- 
land it  was  considered  a  sign  of  good  fortune  to  have 
a  cricket  chirping  by  the  hearth,  and  to  kill  one  of 
these  harmless  little  creatures  was  looked  upon  as  a 
breach  of  hospitality.  Their  cheerful  tunes  suggested 
peace  and  comfort,  the  coziness  of  the  homely  fireside. 
They  were  harbingers  of  good  luck  and  joy.  Gower,  in 
his  Pericles,  offers  the  verse : — 

And  crickets  sing  at  the  oven's  mouth, 
E'er  the  blither  for  their  drouth. 

Ben  Jonson   (Bartholomew  Fair)  alludes  to  the 

insect's  tunes  thus:  "Walk  as  if  thou  hadst  borrowed 

legs  of  a  spinner  and  voice  of  a  cricket."  Shakespeare 

has  several  references  to  this  lover  of  the  fireside  whose 

note  is  so  suggestive  of  cozy  comfort.  Milton  {II  Pense- 

roso,  81)  has  the  line: — 

Far  from  all  resort  of  mirth 
Save  the  cricket  on  the  hearth. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  tunes  of  the  hidden  melodist 
were  regarded  by  many  persons  with  superstition  and 
awe,  and  were  believed  to  be  an  omen  of  sorrow  and 
evil ;  its  voice  even  predicted  the  death  of  a  member  of 
the  family  (see  J.  Brand,  Observations  on  the  Popular 
Antiquities  of  Great  Britain,  1888,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  189). 

No  one,  however,  has  depicted  the  cricket's  chirp- 
ing with  more  poetic  insight  and  charm  than  Charles 
Dickens  in  his  immortal  story  The  Cricket  on  the 
Hearth,  in  describing  the  competition  between  the 
cricket  and  the  boiling  kettle. 

"And  here,  if  you  like,  the  Cricket  did  chime  in! 
with  a  Chirrup,  Chirrup,  Chirrup  of  such  magnitude, 
by  way  of  chorus;  with  a  voice,  so  astoundingly  dis- 
proportionate to  its  size,  as  compared  with  the  Kettle ; 
(size!  you  couldn't  see  it!)   that  if  it  had  then  and 


Engush  Lore  of  Crickets  9 

there  burst  itself  like  an  overcharged  gun,  if  it  had 
fallen  a  victim  on  the  spot,  and  chirruped  its  little  body 
into  fifty  pieces,  it  would  have  seemed  a  natural  and 
inevitable  consequence,  for  which  it  had  expressly  la- 
boured. 

"The  Kettle  had  had  the  last  of  its  solo  perform- 
ance. It  persevered  with  undiminished  ardour ;  but  the 
Cricket  took  first  fiddle  and  kept  it.  Good  Heaven,  how 
it  chirped!  Its  shrill,  sharp,  piercing  voice  resounded 
through  the  house,  and  seemed  to  twinkle  in  the  outer 
darkness  like  a  Star.  There  was  an  indescribable  little 
trill  and  tremble  in  it,  at  its  loudest,  which  suggested 
its  being  carried  off  its  legs,  and  made  to  leap  again, 
by  its  own  intense  enthusiasm.  Yet  they  went  very 
well  together,  the  Cricket  and  the  Kettle.  The  burden 
of  the  song  was  still  the  same;  and  louder,  louder, 
louder  still,  they  sang  it  in  their  emulation. 

"The  cricket  now  began  to  chirp  again,  vehemently. 

"  'Heyday !'  said  John,  in  his  slow  way.  'It's  mer- 
rier than  ever,  to-night,  I  think.' 

"  'And  it's  sure  to  bring  us  good  fortune,  John ! 
It  always  has  done  so.  To  have  a  Cricket  on  the  Hearth, 
is  the  luckiest  thing  in  all  the  world !' 

"John  looked  at  her  as  if  he  had  very  nearly  got 
the  thought  into  his  head,  that  she  was  his  Cricket  in 
chief,  and  he  quite  agreed  with  her.  But  it  was  prob- 
ably one  of  his  narrow  escapes,  for  he  said  nothing. 

"  'The  first  time  I  heard  its  cheerful  little  note, 
John,  was  on  that  night  when  you  brought  me  home — 
when  you  brought  me  to  my  new  home  here ;  its  little 
mistress.  Nearly  a  year  ago.  You  recollect,  John?' 

"  'Oh  yes,'  John  remembered.  *I  should  think  so !' 

"  'Its  chirp  was  such  a  welcome  to  me !  It  seemed 
so  full  of  promise  and  encouragement.  It  seemed  to 
say,  you  would  be  kind  and  gentle  with  me,  and  would 
not  expect  (I  had  a  fear  of  that,  John,  then)  to  find  an 
old  head  on  the  shoulders  of  your  foolish  little  wife.' 


10  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

"  ....  'It  spoke  the  truth,  John,  when  it  seemed 
to  say  so ;  for  you  have  ever  been,  I  am  sure,  the  best, 
the  most  considerate,  the  most  affectionate  of  husbands 
to  me.  This  has  been  a  happy  home,  John ;  and  I  love 
the  Cricket  for  its  sake !'.... 

"  *I  love  it  for  the  many  times  I  have  heard  it,  and 
the  many  thoughts  its  harmless  music  has  given  me'." 


The  Chinese  book  T'ien  pao  i  shi  ("Affairs  of  the 
Period  T'ien-pao,"  a.d.  742-756)  contains  the  following 
notice : — 

"Whenever  the  autumnal  season  arrives,  the  ladies 
of  the  palace  catch  crickets  in  small  golden  cages.  These 
with  the  cricket  enclosed  in  them  they  place  near  their 
pillows,  and  during  the  night  hearken  to  the  voices  of 
the  insects.   This  custom  was  imitated  by  all  people." 

As  it  happened  in  China  so  frequently,  a  certain 
custom  first  originated  in  the  palace,  became  fashion- 
able, and  then  gradually  spread  among  all  classes  of 
the  populace.  The  women  enshrined  in  the  imperial 
seraglio  evidently  found  solace  and  diversion  in  the 
company  of  crickets  during  their  lonesome  nights.  In- 
stead of  golden  cages,  the  people  availed  themselves  of 
small  bamboo  or  wooden  cages  which  they  carried  in 
their  bosom  or  suspended  from  their  girdles. 

The  Museum  owns  a  valuable  painting  in  the  form 
of  a  long  roll  depicting  the  games  and  pastimes  of  a 
hundred  boys  and  attributed  to  Su  Han-ch*en,  a  re- 
nowned artist  of  the  twelfth  century :  one  of  the  scenes 
shows  six  boys  surrounded  by  cricket  jars,  one  of  them 
holding  a  tickler  and  letting  a  cricket  out  of  a  trap-box 
into  a  jar  (see  Plate  I). 

In  Plates  II  and  III  the  principal  species  of  crickets 
kept  by  the  Chinese  in  Peking  are  illustrated  from 
actual  specimens  obtained,  which  will  be  found  on  ex- 
hibition in  the  case  illustrating  the  cricket  cult  (West 
Gallery,  second  floor).    The  scientific  identifications 


LEAFLET  22. 


PLATE  V. 


8  4 

CRICKET  GOURDS. 

1.  Cover  of  ivory.    2.  Cover  of  white  jade.    3.  With  moulded  deeisrw  of  drasons.     4.  Coeted 

with  carved  red  lacquer  in  two  layer*.    Cover  of  ivory  with  carvins  of  three 

lions  playinff  ball. 


Various  Species  of  Crickets  Kept  by  the  Chinese      11 

were  kindly  made  by  Dr.  James  A.  G.  Rehn  of  the 
Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia.  Most  of 
the  grenera  belong  to  the  family  Gryllidae,  only  two  to 
the  family  Tettigoniidae :  Gampsocleis  inflata  Uvarov 
and  G.  gratiosa,  subspecies  infuscata  Uvarov,  the  latter 
illustrated  in  Plate  III,  Fig.  3.  The  besprinkled  cricket 
(GryUiis  conspersus  Schaum,  Chinese  si-so) ,  figured  in 
Plate  II,  Fig.  1,  is  common  all  over  China,  and  is  also 
known  from  the  Ludiu  Islands,  Hawaii,  and  the  East 
Indies.  The  mitred  cricket  {Gryllus  mitratus  Burmeis- 
ter)  in  Plate  II,  Fig.  2,  is  known  from  most  countries 
of  Eastern  Asia,  particularly  China,  Korea,  Japan, 
Tonking,  and  the  Malay  Archipelago.  The  broad-faced 
cricket  (Loxoblemmns  taicoun  Saussure)  in  Plate  II, 
Fig.  3,  has  also  been  described  from  Japan  and  Java. 

The  yellowish  tree-cricket  (Oecanthtis  rufescens 
Serville:  Plate  III,  Fig.  1)  is  a  favorite  with  the  peo- 
ple of  both  Peking  and  Shanghai ;  it  occurs  also  in  the 
East  Indies,  but  is  quite  distinct  from  O.  longicauda 
Matsumura  of  Japan.  The  black  tree-cricket  {Homoeo- 
gryllus  japonicus  Haan:  Plate  III,  Fig.  2),  the  "Golden 
Bell"  (kin  chung)  of  the  Chinese  because  its  sound  is 
compared  with  that  of  a  bell,  is  very  popular  in  Peking ; 
it  is  also  known  from  Japan,  Java,  and  northern  India. 
It  is  evident  that  the  large,  glossy  black  insect  in  Plate 
III,  Fig.  3,  is  quite  different  from  the  crickets  and,  as 
mentioned,  is  placed  by  us  in  a  separate  family.  The 
Chinese  also  distinguish  it  from  the  cricket  and  bestow 
on  it  the  peculiar  name  yu-hv^lu  which  is  imitative  of 
its  sound ;  this  word  belongs  to  the  colloquial  language, 
there  is  no  literary  name  for  this  insect. 

As  to  color,  green,  black,  yellow,  and  purple 
crickets  are  distinguished  by  the  Chinese,  the  green 
and  black  ones  taking  the  first  rank. 

The  notes  of  the  Golden  Bell  are  described  as  being 
like  the  tinkling  of  a  small  bell,  and  its  stridulation  is 
characterized  with  the  words  teng  ling  ling.  The  Japa- 


12  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

nese  designate  this  species  "bell-insect"  (suzumushi). 
Lafcadio  Hearn,  who  in  his  essay  "Insect-Musicians'* 
describes  the  various  kinds  of  crickets  favored  by  the 
Japanese,  says  that  the  bell  of  which  the  sound  is  thus 
referred  to  is  a  very  small  bell,  or  a  bunch  of  little  bells, 
such  as  a  Shinto  priestess  uses  in  the  sacred  dances. 
He  writes,  further,  that  this  species  is  a  great  favorite 
with  insect-fanciers  in  Japan,  and  is  bred  in  great  num- 
bers for  the  market.  In  the  wild  state  it  is  found  in 
many  parts  of  Japan.  The  Japanese  compare  it  with  a 
watermelon  seed,  as  it  is  very  small,  has  a  black  back, 
and  a  white  or  yellowish  belly.  This  insect,  according 
to  the  Chinese,  stridulates  only  at  night  and  stops  at 
dawn ;  the  concert  produced  by  a  chorus  causes  a  deaf- 
ening din  which  is  characterized  by  Hearn  as  a  sound 
like  rapids,  and  by  a  Chinese  author  as  the  sound  of 
drums  and  trumpets. 

Chinese  authors  know  correctly  that  the  "voices" 
of  crickets,  as  they  say,  are  produced  by  the  motion  of 
their  wings.  The  stridulatory  sounds  are  described  by 
them  as  tsa-tsa  or  tsat-tsat,  also  as  tsi-tsi.  The  term 
kwo-kwo  for  the  yellowish  tree-cricket  (Plate  III, 
Fig.  1)  also  is  onomatopoetic.  Terms  of  endearment 
for  a  cricket  are  "horse  of  the  hearth,  chick  of  the 
hearth,  chick  of  the  god  of  the  hearth." 


There  are  various  methods  of  catching  crickets. 
They  are  usually  captured  at  evening.  In  the  north  of 
China  a  lighted  candle  is  placed  near  the  entrance  of 
their  hole,  and  a  trap  box  is  held  in  readiness.  At- 
tracted by  the  light,  the  insects  hop  out  of  their  re- 
treats, and  are  finally  caught  in  the  traps  made  of 
bamboo  or  ivory  rods.  Some  of  these  ivory  traps  are 
veritable  works  of  art:  they  are  surmounted  by 
carvings  of  dragons,  and  the  trap  doors  shut  very  ac- 
curately (Plate  XII,  Figs.  1-2).  The  doors  are  shown 
open  in  the  illustration. 


LEAFLET  22. 


PLATE  VI. 


CRICKET  TICKLERS. 

For  incitins  cricketa  to  sintr  or  fiirht.    In  Peking  they  are  made  from  rat  or  hare  whiskers 

inserted  in  a  reed,  bone,  or  ivory  handle.    On  the  riifht  an  ivory  tube,  with 

cover  aurmounted  by  the  figure  of  a  lion,  for  keeping  ticklers. 


Methods  of  Capturing  Crickets  18 

The  trap  shown  in  Fig.  4  of  the  same  Plate  is  an 
oblong,  rectangular  wooden  box,  as  used  in  central 
China;  the  trap  door  at  the  end  of  the  box  is  a  plain 
wooden  slip  fitting  into  a  groove,  which  may  be  lifted 
and  lowered  in  a  few  seconds. 

In  the  south,  men  avail  themselves  of  what  is  called 
a  fire-basket  (fo  lam)  which  is  made  of  iron  rods  and 
in  which  a  charcoal  fire  is  kept  burning.  This  fire 
drives  the  insects  out  of  their  dens.  Sometimes  the 
cricket-hunters  reach  their  object  by  pouring  water 
into  the  holes  where  the  insects  hide.  Sometimes  they 
endeavor  to  entice  them  from  the  nest  by  placing  at  its 
entrance  the  fruit  of  Nephelium  longana  (lung  yen, 
"dragon's  eyes"). 

In  Shanghai  and  Hangchow  grasshoppers  are  also 
held  captives  and  enclosed  in  wooden  cages,  usually 
of  the  shape  of  a  chair,  stool,  or  table  (Plate  XI). 

Cicadas  were  formerly  also  kept  in  small  cages 
which  were  suspended  at  the  eaves  of  houses  or  from 
the  branches  of  trees,  but  this  custom  is  no  longer  prac- 
tised. The  cicada  is  at  present  not  offered  for  sale  in 
the  markets  like  the  cricket.  It  may  occasionally  be 
caught  by  boys  and  caged  by  them  for  their  amuse- 
ment temporarily,  but  otherwise  interest  in  this  insect 
has  waned.  The  same  holds  good  for  Japan,  where 
cicadas  are  never  caged.  Japanese  poets,  as  Lafcadio 
Hearn  observes,  are  much  more  inclined  to  praise  the 
voices  of  night-crickets  than  those  of  cicadas ;  there  are 
countless  poems  about  the  latter,  but  very  few  which 
commend  their  singing. 

Many  people  rear  hundreds  of  crickets  in  their 
homes,  and  have  several  rooms  stacked  with  the  jars 
which  shelter  the  insects.  The  rich  employ  experts  to 
look  after  theirs.  As  soon  as  you  enter  a  house  like  this, 
you  are  greeted  by  a  deafening  noise  which  a  Chinese 
is  able  to  stand  for  any  length  of  time. 


14  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

During  the  summer  the  insects  are  kept  in  circular 
pottery  jars  made  of  a  common  burnt  clay  and  covered 
with  a  flat  lid,  which  is  sometimes  perforated.  Many 
potters  made  a  special  business  of  these  cricket  houses, 
and  impressed  on  them  a  seal  with  their  names ;  for  in- 
stance, Chao  Tse-yii,  who  lived  in  the  first  part  of  the 
nineteenth  century  and  whose  productions  still  enjoy  a 
special  reputation.  There  are  old  pots  said  to  go  back 
as  far  as  the  Ming  dynasty  (1368-1643),  and  these  are 
highly  prized.  The  crickets  keep  cool  in  these  jars, 
which  are  often  shaped  in  the  form  of  a  gourd,  as  the 
heat  does  not  penetrate  the  thick  clay  walls.  Tiny  por- 
celain dishes  decorated  in  blue  and  white  or  small  bits 
of  clay  contain  food  and  water  for  the  insects,  and  they 
are  also  provided  with  beds  or  sleeping  boxes  of  clay 
(Plates  VIII  and  IX).  Jars  of  somewhat  larger  size 
serve  for  holding  the  cricket-fights. 

During  the  winter  months  the  crickets  change 
their  home,  and  are  transferred  to  specially  prepared 
gourds  which  are  provided  with  loose  covers  wrought 
in  open  work  so  as  to  admit  fresh  air  into  the  gourd. 
This  is  said  to  be  a  special  variety  of  the  common 
gourd  (Lagenaria  vvlgaris),  the  cultivation  of  which 
was  known  to  a  single  family  of  Peking.  A  Chinese 
model  of  the  plant, — ^the  flowers  of  jade,  the  gourds  of 
turquois, — is  placed  on  exhibition;  likewise  gourds  in 
their  natural  shapes  and  others  in  the  process  of  being 
worked.  The  gourds  used  as  cricket  habitations  are  all 
artificially  shaped ;  they  are  raised  in  earthen  moulds, 
the  flowers  are  forced  into  the  moulds,  and  as  they 
grow  will  assume  the  shape  of  and  the  designs 
fashioned  in  the  moulds.  There  is  accordingly  an  in- 
finite variety  of  forms :  there  are  slender  and  graceful, 
round  and  double,  cylindrical  and  jar-like  ones.  Those 
formerly  made  for  the  Palace,  of  which  the  Museum 
possesses  a  number,  are  decorated  with  figures  and 
scenes  in  high  relief  fashioned  in  the  clay  mould.  The 


How  Crickets  are  Kept  and  Fed  16 

technique  employed  in  these  ancient  pieces  is  now  lost; 
at  least  they  are  no  longer  made,  though  there  are  poor 
modern  imitations  in  which  the  surfaces  are  carved, 
not  moulded. 

The  covers  of  the  gourd,  flat  or  tall,  are  made  of 
jade,  elephant  or  walrus  ivory,  coconut  shell,  and  san- 
dalwood, all  elaborately  decorated,  partly  in  high  relief, 
partly  in  open  work,  or  in  the  two  methods  combined, 
with  floral  designs,  dragons,  lions  and  other  animals. 
Gourd  vines  with  flowers  and  fruits  belong  to  the  most 
favorite  designs  carved  in  the  flat  ivory  covers ;  gourd 
and  cricket  appear  to  be  inseparable  companions.  A 
kind  of  cement  which  is  a  mixture  of  lime  and  sandy 
loam  is  smeared  over  the  bottom  of  the  gourd  to  pro- 
vide a  comfortable  resting-place  for  the  tenant.  The 
owner  of  the  cricket  may  carry  the  gourd  in  his  bosom 
wherever  he  goes,  and  in  passing  men  in  the  street  you 
may  hear  the  shrill  sound  of  the  insect  from  its  warm 
and  safe  place  of  refuge.  The  gourds  keep  the  insects 
warm,  and  on  a  cold  night  they  receive  a  cotton  pad- 
ding to  sleep  upon. 

Plain  gourds  are  illustrated  in  Plates  IV  and  V, 
Figs.  1-2 ;  decorated  ones,  in  Plates  V,  Figs.  3-4,  and  X. 

In  the  sunmier  the  insects  are  generally  fed  on 
fresh  cucumber,  lettuce,  and  other  greens.  During  their 
confinement  in  autumn  and  winter  masticated  chest- 
nuts and  yellow  beans  are  given  them.  In  the  south 
they  are  also  fed  on  chopped  fish  and  various  kinds  of 
insects,  and  even  receive  honey  as  a  tonic.  It  is  quite 
a  common  sight  to  see  the  idlers  congregated  in  the 
tea-houses  and  laying  their  crickets  out  on  the  tables. 
Their  masters  wash  the  gourds  with  hot  tea  and  chew 
chestnuts  and  beans  to  feed  them.  Then  they  listen  to 
their  songs  and  boast  of  their  grinding  powers.  The 
Chinese  cricket  books  give  many  elaborate  rules  for 
proper  feeding  which  vary  with  the  different  species 
and  with  every  month.  The  Golden  Bell,  for  instance, 


16  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

should  be  fed  on  wormwood  (or  southern-wood,  ts'ing 
hao,  Artemisia  apiacea),  while  flowers  of  the  "silk 
melon"  (Luffa  cylindrica)  and  melon  pulp  are  pre- 
scribed for  the  Spinning  Damsel. 

The  fighting  crickets  receive  particular  attention 
and  nourishment,  a  dish  consisting  of  a  bit  of  rice 
mixed  with  fresh  cucumbers,  boiled  chestnuts,  lotus 
seeds,  and  mosquitoes.  When  the  time  for  the  fight 
draws  near,  they  get  a  tonic  in  the  form  of  a  bouillon 
made  from  the  root  of  a  certain  flower.  Some  fanciers 
allow  themselves  to  be  stung  by  mosquitoes,  and  when 
these  are  full  of  blood,  they  are  given  their  favorite 
pupils.  In  order  to  stir  their  ferocity  prior  to  a  bout, 
they  are  sometimes  also  compelled  to  fast.  As  soon  as 
they  recognize  from  their  slow  movements  that  they 
are  sick,  they  are  fed  on  small  red  insects  gathered  in 
water. 

A  tickler  is  used  for  stirring  the  crickets  to  incite 
them  to  sing  (Plate  VI).  In  Peking  fine  hair  from 
hare  or  rat  whiskers  inserted  in  a  reed  or  bone  handle 
is  utilized  for  this  purpose ;  in  Shanghai,  a  fine  blade  of 
crab  or  finger  grass  (Panicwn  syntherisma) .  The 
ticklers  are  kept  in  bamboo  or  wooden  tubes,  and  the 
rich  indulge  in  the  luxury  of  having  an  elegant  ivory 
tube  surmounted  by  the  carving  of  a  lion  (Plate  VI). 
A  special  brush  serves  for  cleaning  the  gourds  and  jars 
(Plate  XII,  Fig.  6) ;  and  a  pair  of  wooden  nippers  or 
tongs  is  used  for  handling  the  food  and  water  dishes 
(Plate  XII,  Fig.  5) .  The  insect  is  held  under  a  wire 
screen,  while  its  gourd  is  being  cleaned  or  washed 
(Plate  XII,  Fig.  7).  A  hair  net  enclosed  in  a  hoop  is 
placed  over  the  jar  to  watch  the  doings  of  the  insects 
(Plate  VIII,  in  upper  right  corner). 

The  tympanum  of  good  singers  is  coated  with  a 
bit  of  wax  to  increase  or  strengthen  the  volume  of 
sound.  A  small  needle  about  three  inches  long  with 
blunt  end,  about  the  size  of  a  darning  needle,  is  heated 


z 

UI 

o 

g 

8 

f? 

^ 

•g 

u. 
O 

& 

Jf  K 


?  "5 


Fighting  Crickets  17 

over  a  candle  and  lightly  dipped  in  the  wax.  The  in- 
sect is  held  between  the  thumb  and  forefinger  of  the 
closed  hand,  and  the  wax  is  applied  to  the  wing-covers. 
Specimens  of  the  wax  are  shown  in  the  case  of  cricket 
paraphernalia. 


Crickets  are  imbued  with  the  natural  instinct  to 
fight.  The  Chinese  offer  the  following  explanation  for 
this  fact:  the  crickets  live  in  holes,  and  each  hole  is 
inhabited  by  a  single  individual ;  this  manner  of  living 
gives  rise  to  frictions  and  frequent  combats,  for  the 
insects  always  prefer  their  old  places  of  refuge,  and 
when  they  encounter  in  them  another  inmate,  they  will 
not  cede  their  rights  voluntarily,  but  will  at  once  start 
to  fight  over  the  housing  problem.  The  two  rivals  will 
jump  at  each  other's  heads  with  furious  bites,  and  the 
combat  will  usually  end  in  the  death  of  one  of  the 
fighters.  It  frequently  happens  that  the  victor  devours 
the  body  of  his  adversary,  just  as  primitive  man  did 
away  with  the  body  of  his  enemy  whom  he  had  slain 
in  mortal  strife.  When  driven  by  hunger,  crickets  will 
feed  upon  other  insects  and  even  devour  their  own 
relations.  When  several  are  confined  in  a  cage,  they  do 
not  hesitate  to  eat  one  another.  War  and  death  is  a 
law  of  nature. 

In  the  course  of  many  generations,  the  Chinese 
through  long  experience  and  practice,  have  accom- 
plished what  we  may  call  a  natural  selection  of  fighting 
crickets.  The  good  fighters  are  believed  to  be  incarna- 
tions of  great  heroes  of  the  past,  and  are  treated  in 
every  respect  like  soldiers.  Kia  Se-tao,  the  first  author 
who  wrote  on  the  subject,  says  that  "rearing  crickets 
is  like  rearing  soldiers."  The  strongest  and  bravest  of 
these  who  are  most  appreciated  at  Peking  and  Tientsin 
come  from  the  southern  province  of  Kwang-tung.  These 
fighters  are  dubbed  "generals"  or  "marshals,"  and 


18  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

seven  varieties  of  them  are  distinguished,  each  with  a 
special  name. 

Those  with  black  heads  and  gray  hair  in  their 
bodies  are  considered  best.  Next  in  appreciation  come 
those  with  yellow  heads  and  gray  hair,  then  those  with 
white  heads  and  gray  hair,  then  those  with  golden 
wings  covered  with  red  hair,  those  of  yellow  color  with 
blood-red  hair  who  are  said  to  have  two  tails  in  form 
of  sheep's  horns,  finally  those  yellow  in  color  with 
pointed  head  and  long  abdomen  and  those  supposed  to 
be  dressed  in  embroidered  silk,  gray  in  color  and  cov- 
ered with  red  spots  like  fish-scales.  The  good  fighters, 
according  to  Chinese  experts,  are  recognized  by  their 
loud  chirping,  their  big  heads  and  necks,  long  legs,  and 
broad  bodies  and  backs. 

The  "Generals,"  as  stated,  receive  a  special  diet 
before  the  contest,  and  are  attended  to  with  utmost 
care  and  great  competence.  Observations  made  for 
many  centuries  have  developed  a  set  of  standard  rules 
which  are  conscientiously  followed.  The  trainers,  for 
instance,  are  aware  of  the  fact  that  extremes  of  tem- 
perature are  injurious  to  the  crickets.  When  they  ob- 
serve that  the  insects  droop  their  tiny  mustaches,  they 
know  that  they  are  too  warm,  and  endeavor  to  main- 
tain for  them  an  even  temperature  and  exclude  all 
draughts  from  them.  Smoke  is  supposed  to  be  detri- 
mental to  their  health,  and  the  rooms  in  which  they  are 
kept  must  be  perfectly  free  from  it.  The  experts  also 
have  a  thorough  understanding  of  their  diseases,  and 
have  prescriptions  at  hand  for  their  treatment  and 
cure.  If  the  crickets  are  sick  from  overeating,  they 
are  fed  on  a  kind  of  red  insect.  If  sickness  arises  from 
cold,  they  get  mosquitoes;  if  from  heat,  shoots  of  the 
green  pea  are  given  them.  A  kind  of  butterfly  known 
as  "bamboo  butterfly"  is  administered  for  difficulty  in 
breathing.  In  a  word,  they  are  cared  for  like  pet  babies. 


LEAFLET  22. 


CRICKET  POTS. 

The  Summer  Habitation*  of  the  Inaect«. 

The  one  in  the  lower  left  oontaina  two  clay  beda  in  which  the  cricketa  aleep. 

Another  clay  bed  in  the  centre. 


Treatment  of  Fighting  Crickets  and  Cricket-fights    19 

The  tournaments  take  place  in  an  open  space,  on 
a  public  square,  or  in  a  special  house  termed  Autumn 
Amusements.  There  are  heavy-weight,  middle  and  light- 
weight champions.  The  wranglers  are  always  matched 
on  equal  terms  according  to  size,  weight,  and  color,  and 
are  carefully  weighed  on  a  pair  of  wee  scales  at  the 
opening  of  each  contest.  A  silk  cover  is  spread  over  a 
table  on  which  are  placed  the  pottery  jars  containing 
the  warring  crickets.  The  jar  is  the  arena  in  which 
the  prize  fight  is  staged.  A  specimen  with  two  crickets 
in  the  act  of  fighting  is  shown  in  the  exhibition  case. 
As  a  rule,  the  two  adversaries  facing  each  other  will 
first  endeavor  to  flee,  but  the  thick  walls  of  the  bowl 
or  jar  are  set  up  as  an  invincible  barrier  to  this  at- 
tempt at  desertion.  Now  the  referee  who  is  called 
"Army  Commander"  or  "Director  of  the  Battle"  inter- 
cedes, announcing  the  contestants  and  reciting  the  his- 
tory of  their  past  performances,  and  spurs  the  two 
parties  on  to  combat.  For  this  purpose  he  avails  him- 
self of  the  tickler  described  above,  and  first  stirs  their 
heads  and  the  ends  of  their  tails,  finally  their  large  hind 
legs.  The  two  opponents  thus  excited  stretch  out  their 
antennae  which  the  Chinese  not  inaptly  designate 
"tweezers,"  and  jump  at  each  other's  heads.  The  an- 
tennae or  tentacles  are  their  chief  weapons.  One  of  the 
belligerents  will  soon  lose  one  of  its  horns,  while  the 
other  may  retort  by  tearing  off  one  of  the  enemy's  legs. 
The  two  combatants  become  more  and  more  exasper- 
ated and  fight  each  other  mercilessly.  The  struggle 
usually  ends  in  the  death  of  one  of  them,  and  it  occurs 
not  infrequently  that  the  more  agile  or  stronger  one 
pounces  with  its  whole  weight  upon  the  body  of  its 
opponent,  severing  its  head  completely. 

Cricket-fights  in  China  have  developed  into  a  veri- 
table passion.  Bets  are  concluded,  and  large  sums  are 
wagered  on  the  prospective  champions.  The  stakes  are 
in  some  cases  very  large,  and  at  single  matches  held  in 


20  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

Canton  are  said  to  have  sometimes  aggregated  $100,- 
000.  It  happens  quite  frequently  that  too  ardent  ama- 
teurs are  completely  ruined  in  the  game.  Gambling  is 
forbidden  by  law  in  China  as  elsewhere,  but  such  laws 
are  usually  winked  at,  and  the  official  theory  in  this  case 
is  that  the  stakes  consist  of  presents  of  sweet  cakes. 
Choice  champions  fetch  prices  up  to  $100,  the  value  of  a 
good  horse  in  China,  and  owners  of  famous  crickets 
travel  long  distances  to  meet  their  competitors  and  con- 
gregate with  them  in  order  to  match  their  champions. 
Some  amateurs  delight  in  raising  them  by  the  hundreds 
in  the  hope  to  produce  the  champion  of  the  champions 
of  the  season,  who  is  honored  with  the  attribute  of 
Grand  Marshal.  These  men  are  by  no  means  low-brows, 
but  highly  cultured  men  and  those  in  responsible  gov- 
ernment positions  are  found  in  this  class. 

Two  localities  near  Canton,  Fa-ti  and  Cha-pi,  not 
far  from  Whampoa,  enjoy  a  special  reputation  for 
cricket-fighting.  At  these  places  extensive  mat  sheds 
are  erected  and  divided  into  several  compartments.  In 
each  section  a  contest  goes  on,  the  pot  which  forms  the 
arena  being  placed  on  a  table.  In  order  to  acquaint 
prospective  betters  with  the  merits  of  the  crickets 
matched  against  each  other,  a  placard  is  posted  on  the 
sides  of  the  building,  setting  forth  the  various  stakes 
previously  won  by  each  cricket.  Great  excitement  is 
manifested  at  these  matches,  and  considerable  sums  of 
money  change  hands.  The  sum  of  money  staked  on  the 
contest  is  lodged  with  a  committee  who  retain  ten  per 
cent  to  cover  expenses  and  hand  over  the  balance  to  the 
owner  of  the  winning  cricket.  The  lucky  winner  is  also 
presented  with  a  roast  pig,  a  piece  of  silk,  and  a  gilded 
ornament  resembling  a  bouquet  of  flowers.  This  decora- 
tion is  deposited  by  him  either  on  the  ancestral  altar  of 
his  house  to  inform  his  ancestors  of  his  good  luck  and 
to  thank  them  for  their  protection,  or  on  a  shrine  in 
honor  of  Kwan-ti,  a  deified  hero,  who  is  the  personifi- 


Cricket  Champions  21 

cation  of  all  manly  virtues  and  a  model  of  gentlemanly 
conduct. 

The  names  of  the  victorious  champions  are  in- 
scribed on  an  ivory  tablet  carved  in  the  shape  of  a 
gourd  (Plate  VIII,  centre),  and  these  tablets  like  diplo- 
mas are  religiously  kept  in  the  houses  of  the  fortunate 
owners.  Sometimes  the  characters  of  the  inscription 
are  laid  out  in  gold.  The  victory  is  occasion  for  great 
rejoicing  and  jollification.  Music  is  performed,  gongs 
are  clanged,  flags  displayed,  flowers  scattered,  and  the 
tablet  of  victory  is  triumphantly  marched  in  front,  the 
jubilant  victor  struts  in  the  procession  of  his  overjoyed 
compatriots,  carrying  his  victorious  cricket  home.  The 
sunshine  of  his  glory  falls  on  the  whole  community  in 
which  he  lives,  and  his  village  will  gain  as  much  pub- 
licity and  notoriety  as  an  American  town  which  has 
produced  a  golf  or  baseball  champion. 

In  southern  China,  a  cricket  which  has  won  many 
victories  is  honored  with  the  title  "conquering  or  vic- 
torious cricket"  (shou  lip)  ;  on  its  death  it  is  placed  in 
a  small  silver  coffin,  and  is  solemnly  buried.  The  owner 
of  the  champion  believes  that  the  honorable  interment 
will  bring  him  good  luck  and  that  excellent  fighting 
crickets  will  be  found  in  the  following  year  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  place  where  his  favorite  cricket 
lies  buried. 

All  these  ideas  emanate  from  the  belief  that  able 
cricket  champions  are  incarnations  of  great  warriors 
and  heroes  of  the  past  from  whom  they  have  inherited 
a  soul  imbued  with  prowess  and  fighting  qualities. 
Dickens  says,  "For  all  the  Cricket  Tribe  are  potent 
Spirits,  even  though  the  people  who  hold  converse  with 
them  do  not  know  it  (which  is  frequently  the  case)." 

A  proverbial  saying  with  reference  to  a  man  who 
failed  or  has  been  defeated  is,  "A  defeated  cricket, — 
he  gives  up  his  mouth,"  which  means  as  much  as 
"throwing  up  the  sponge." 


22  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

The  following  Chinese  stories  may  give  an  insight 
into  the  cricket  rage. 

Kia  Se-tao,  a  minister  of  state  and  general  who 
lived  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  who  wrote,  as  men- 
tioned, an  authoritative  treatise  on  the  subject,  is  one 
of  the  cricket  fanciers  famous  in  history.  He  was  com- 
pletely obsessed  with  an  all-absorbing  passion  for  the 
cricket  cult.  The  story  goes  that  one  day,  during  a  war 
of  the  Mongols  against  the  imperial  house  of  Sung,  an 
important  city  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  foe.  When 
Kia  Se-tao  received  news  of  the  disaster,  he  was  found 
kneeling  in  the  grass  of  a  lawn  and  taking  part  in  a 
cricket  match.  "In  this  manner  you  look  out  for  the 
interests  of  the  nation !"  he  was  reprimanded.  He  was 
not  in  the  least  disturbed,  however,  and  kept  his  atten- 
tion concentrated  on  the  game. 

An  anecdote  of  tragical  character  is  told  with 
reference  to  an  official  of  Peking,  who  held  the  post  of 
director  of  the  rice-granaries  of  the  capital.  He  once 
found  a  cricket  of  choice  quality  and  exceptional  value. 
In  order  to  secure  this  treasure,  he  exchanged  his  best 
horse  for  it  and  resolved  to  present  this  fine  specimen 
to  the  emperor.  He  placed  it  cautiously  in  a  box  and 
took  it  home.  During  his  absence  his  prjdng  wife  craved 
to  see  the  insect  which  had  been  bought  so  dearly.  She 
opened  the  box,  and  fate  ordained  that  the  cricket  made 
its  escape.  A  rooster  happened  to  be  around  and  swal- 
lowed the  cricket.  The  poor  woman,  frightened  by  the 
consequences  of  her  act,  strangled  herself  with  a  rope. 
At  his  return  the  husband  learned  of  the  double  loss 
he  had  suffered  and,  seized  by  despair,  committed  sui- 
cide. The  Chinese  narrator  of  the  story  concludes,  "Who 
would  have  imagined  that  the  graceful  singer  of  the 
fields  might  provoke  a  tragedy  like  this?" 

The  "Strange  Stories  from  a  Chinese  Studio" 
written  by  P*u  Sung-ling  in  1679  (translated  into  Eng- 


LEAFLET  22. 


BLUE  AND  WHITE  PORCELAIN  DISHES  FOR  FEEDING  CRICKETS. 

In  the  centre  an  ivory  tablet  in  §hape  of  a  rourd  on  which  the  names  of  the 

victorioua  championa  are  inscribed. 


Cricket  Stories  23 

lish  by  H.  A.  Giles)  contain  the  following  story  of  a 
Fighting  Cricket  (No.  64)  :— 

"During  the  period  Siian-te  (1426-36)  of  the  Ming 
dynasty,  cricket-fighting  was  very  much  in  vogue  at 
court  (levies  of  crickets  being  exacted  from  the  people 
as  a  tax.  On  one  occasion,  the  magistrate  of  Hua-yin, 
wishing  to  befriend  the  Governor,  presented  him  with 
a  cricket  which,  on  being  set  to  fight,  displayed  very 
remarkable  powers;  so  much  so  that  the  Governor 
commanded  the  magistrate  to  supply  him  regularly 
with  these  insects.  The  latter,  in  his  turn,  ordered  the 
beadles  of  his  district  to  provide  him  with  crickets ;  and 
then  it  became  a  practice  for  people  who  had  nothing 
else  to  do  to  catch  and  rear  them  for  this  purpose. 
Thus  the  price  of  crickets  rose  very  high ;  and  when  the 
beadle's  runners  came  to  exact  even  a  single  one,  it  was 
enough  to  ruin  several  families.  In  the  said  village  there 
lived  a  man  named  Cheng,  a  student  who  had  often 
failed  for  his  bachelor's  degree;  and,  being  a  stupid 
sort  of  fellow,  his  name  was  sent  in  for  the  post  of 
beadle.  He  did  all  he  could  to  get  out  of  it,  but  without 
success ;  and  by  the  end  of  the  year  his  small  patrimony 
was  gone.  Just  then  came  a  call  for  crickets.  Cheng 
was  in  despair,  but,  encouraged  by  his  wife,  went  out 
hunting  for  the  insects.  At  first  he  was  unsuccessful, 
but  by  means  of  a  map  supplied  by  a  fortune-teller  he 
at  last  discovered  a  magnificent  specimen,  strong  and 
handsome,  with  a  fine  tail,  green  neck,  and  golden 
wings ;  and,  putting  it  in  a  basket,  he  returned  home 
in  high  glee  to  receive  the  congratulations  of  his  family. 
He  would  not  have  taken  anything  for  this  cricket, 
and  proceeded  to  feed  it  up  carefully  in  a  bowl.  Its 
belly  was  the  color  of  a  crab's,  its  back  that  of  a  sweet 
chestnut;  and  Cheng  tended  it  most  lovingly,  waiting 
for  the  time  when  the  magistrate  should  call  upon  him 
for  a  cricket. 


24  Field  Museum  op  Natural  History 

"Meanwhile,  Cheng's  nine  year  old  son,  while  his 
father  was  out,  opened  the  bowl.  The  cricket  escaped 
instantaneously.  The  boy  grabbed  it,  seized  one  of  its 
legs  which  broke  off,  and  the  little  creature  soon  died. 
Cheng's  wife  turned  deadly  pale  when  her  son,  with 
tears  in  his  eyes,  told  her  what  had  happened.  The 
boy  ran  away,  crying  bitterly.  Soon  after  Cheng  came 
home,  and  when  he  heard  his  wife's  story,  he  felt  as 
if  he  had  been  turned  to  ice.  He  went  in  search  of  his 
son  whose  body  he  discovered  at  the  bottom  of  a  well. 
The  parents'  anger  thus  changed  into  grief,  but  when 
they  prepared  to  bury  the  boy,  they  found  that  he  was 
still  breathing.  Toward  the  middle  of  the  night  he  came 
to,  but  his  reason  had  fled. 

"His  father  caught  sight  of  the  empty  bowl  in 
which  he  had  kept  the  cricket,  and  at  daybreak  he  sud- 
denly heard  the  chirping  of  a  cricket  outside  the  house- 
door.  Jumping  up  hurriedly,  there  was  his  lost  insect ; 
but,  on  trying  to  catch  it,  away  it  hopped  directly.  He 
chased  it  up  and  down,  until  finally  it  jumped  into  a 
corner  of  the  wall ;  and  then,  looking  carefully  about, 
he  espied  it  once  more,  no  longer  the  same  in  appear- 
ance, but  small  and  of  a  dark  red  color.  Cheng  stood 
looking  at  it,  without  trying  to  catch  such  a  worthless 
specimen,  when  all  of  a  sudden  the  little  creature 
hopped  into  his  sleeve;  and,  on  examining  it  more 
closely,  he  noticed  that  it  really  was  a  handsome  insect, 
with  well-formed  head  and  neck,  and  forthwith  took  it 
indoors. 

"He  was  now  anxious  to  try  its  prowess ;  and  it  so 
happened  that  a  young  fellow  of  the  village,  who  had  a 
fine  cricket  which  used  to  win  every  bout  it  fought, 
called  on  Cheng  that  very  day.  He  laughed  heartily  at 
Cheng's  champion,  and  producing  his  own,  placed  it 
side  by  side,  to  the  great  disadvantage  of  the  former. 
Cheng's  countenance  fell,  and  he  no  longer  wished  to 
back  his  cricket.  However,  the  young  fellow  urged  hira, 


LEAFLET  22. 


PLATE  X. 


CRICKET  GOURDS. 

With  moulded  decorationi:  gccnery.  flruK*.  and  ornaments.    The  figure  in  the  centra 

icpraaenta  a  carved  walnut  shell  an  enlargement  of  which  ia  shown  in  Tlate  XI. 


Cricket  Stories  25 

and  he  thought  that  there  was  no  use  in  rearing  a 
feeble  insect,  and  that  he  had  better  sacrifice  it  for  a 
laugh ;  so  they  put  them  together  in  a  bowl.  The  little 
cricket  lay  quite  still  like  a  piece  of  wood,  at  which 
the  young  fellow  roared  again,  and  louder  than  ever 
when  it  did  not  even  move  though  tickled  with  a  pig's 
bristle.  By  dint  of  tickling  it  was  roused  at  last,  and 
then  it  fell  upon  its  adversary  with  such  fury,  that  in 
a  moment  the  young  fellow's  cricket  would  have  been 
killed  outright  had  not  its  master  interfered  and 
stopped  the  fight.  The  little  cricket  then  stood  up  and 
chirped  to  Cheng  as  a  sign  of  victory ;  and  Cheng,  over- 
joyed, was  just  talking  over  the  battle  with  the  young 
fellow,  when  a  cock  caught  sight  of  the  insect  and  ran 
up  to  catch  it.  Cheng  was  alarmed,  but  the  cock  luckily 
missed  its  aim,  and  the  cricket  hopped  away,  its  enemy 
pursuing  at  full  speed.  In  the  next  moment  Cheng  saw 
his  cricket  seated  on  the  cock's  head,  holding  firmly  on 
to  its  comb.  He  then  placed  it  in  a  cage  and  sent  it 
to  the  magistrate,  who,  seeing  what  a  small  one  he  had 
provided,  was  very  angry  indeed.  The  magistrate  re- 
fused to  believe  the  story  of  the  cock,  so  Cheng  set  it 
to  fight  with  other  crickets  all  of  whom  it  vanquished 
without  exception.  He  then  tried  it  with  a  cock,  and 
as  all  turned  out  as  Cheng  had  said,  he  gave  him  a 
present  and  sent  the  cricket  on  to  the  Governor.  The 
latter  forwarded  it  to  the  palace  in  a  golden  cage  with 
some  comments  on  its  performances. 

"It  was  found  that  in  the  splendid  collection  of 
his  majesty  there  was  not  one  worthy  of  being  matched 
with  this  one.  It  would  dance  in  time  to  music  and  be- 
came a  great  favorite  at  court.  The  emperor  in  return 
bestowed  magnificent  gifts  of  horses  and  silks  upon  the 
Governor.  The  latter  rewarded  the  magistrate,  and  the 
magistrate  recompensated  Cheng  by  excusing  him  from 
the  duties  of  beadle  and  by  instructing  the  Literary 
Chancellor  to  pass  him  for  the  first  degree.    A  few 


26  Field  Museum  of  Natural  History 

months  afterwards  Cheng's  son  recovered  his  intellect 
and  said  that  he  had  been  a  cricket  and  had  proved  him- 
self a  very  skilful  fighter.  The  Governor  also  rewarded 
Cheng  handsomely,  and  in  a  few  years  he  was  a  rich 
man,  with  flocks,  herds,  houses  and  acres,  quite  one  of 
the  wealthiest  of  mankind." 

The  interesting  point  of  this  story  is  that  the  boy's 
spirit,  during  his  period  of  temporary  mental  aberra- 
tion, had  entered  into  the  body  of  the  cricket  which 
had  allowed  itself  to  be  caught  by  his  father.  He  ani- 
mated it  to  fight  with  such  extraordinary  vigor  that  he 
might  amend  the  loss  caused  by  his  curiosity  in  letting 
the  other  cricket  escape. 


Cricket-fights  are  not  so  cruel  as  cock  and  quail 
fights  in  which  the  Chinese  also  indulge,  but  the  three 
combined  are  not  so  revolting  as  the  bull-fights  of  Spain 
and  Latin  America.  The  Chinese  reveal  their  senti- 
mental qualities  in  their  fondness  of  the  insect-musi- 
cians, in  the  loving  care  they  bestow  on  their  pets  and 
in  lavishing  on  them  the  most  delicate  and  exquisite 
productions  their  miniature  art  is  able  to  create.  They 
know  how  to  carve  a  walnut-shell  with  the  figures  of 
the  eighteen  Arhat  and  elaborate  ornamental  detail 
(Plates  X  and  XI).  A  lens  is  required  to  appreciate 
this  whole  apparatus  of  intricate  design.  A  walnut 
like  this  is  suspended  at  the  girdle,  and  a  cricket  is  en- 
closed in  it  just  for  the  purpose  of  enjoying  its  musical 
efforts.  Surely  people  who  go  to  all  this  trouble  must 
have  sentiments  and  a  deep  sense  of  the  joy  of  life  and 
nature. 

As  far  as  I  know,  the  Chinese  are  the  only  nation 
that  has  developed  cricket-fights.  The  Japanese,  though 
fond  of  chirping  insects  which  they  keep  as  pets  in 
little  cages,  do  not  use  them  for  fighting  purposes. 
Kipling  writes  in  his  Jungle-book,  "The  herd-children 
of  India  sleep  and  wake  and  sleep  again,  and  weave 


LEAFLET  22. 


PtATE  XI. 


I  J 


CARVED  WALNUT  SHELL  (ENLARGED). 

Dccor*t«d  with  the  fitnires  of  the  EiRhtcen  Arhat.  ■  pavilion,  trees,  and  the  sun  emersins 

from  clouds.    For  keepinR  sinRinir  crickets  and  carried  about  in  the  girdle. 

China.  K'ien-luns  Period  (1736-96). 


I 


Chinese  and  Japanese  Attitude  Toward  Crickets      27 

little  baskets  of  dried  grass  and  put  grasshoppers  in 
them ;  or  catch  two  praying-mantises  and  make  them 
fight."  This  may  be  an  occasional  occurrence  in  India, 
but  it  has  not  developed  into  a  sport  or  a  national  pas- 
time. In  regard  to  Japan  the  reader  may  be  referred 
to  Lafcadio  Hearn's  essays  "Insect-Musicians,"  inserted 
in  his  "Exotics  and  Retrospectives,"  and  "Semi" 
[Cicada]  in  his  "Shadowings." 

Field  Museum  owns  a  very  extensive  collection  il- 
lustrating the  Chinese  cricket  cult  and  consisting  of 
numerous  moulded  gourds  (many  from  the  Palace  and 
the  possession  of  ancient  families  of  Peking) ,  pottery 
jars,  and  all  the  paraphernalia  (altogether  about  240 
pieces).  This  collection  was  brought  together  by  me 
on  the  Captain  Marshall  Field  Expedition  to  China  in 
1923.  A  careful  selection  of  this  material  is  placed 
on  exhibit  in  a  case  on  the  West  Gallery. 

B.  Lauper. 


LEAFLET  22. 


PLATE  XM. 


ACCESSORIES. 

1,  2.  4.  Trmpa  for  catchins  insects,  1  and  4  of  bamboo,  2  of  ivory,    3,  Gourd  of  cylindrical 

shape  for  keepinir  female  crickets  to  secure  etrss.    6.  Pair  of  nippers  for  taking 

feedinic-dishes  out  or  in.     6.    Brush  for  cleaning  cricket-pots  and 

smirds.    7.  Wire  frame  under  which  crickets  are  hekl 

while  their  cages  are  being  cleaned. 


PRINTED   IN   THE   UNITED  STATES  OF    AMERICA 
BY   FIELD   MUSEUM   PRESS 


